Stamp and envelope moistener



(No Model'.)

0. MARSH.

STAMP AND ENVELOPE MOISTENER. No. 348,403. Paten ted Aug. 31, 1886.

WIT NE'SSES:

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UNTTTQTT STATES PATENT Trice.

CHARLES VARSH, OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

STAMP AND ENVELQPE MOISTENER.

PECIFICATEOIT forming part of Letters Patent No. 348,403, dated August 31, 1886.

Application filed Xovcmltcr 11, 1885. Serial K01532 115. (X0 model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1', Guannns BIARSII, a citi zen of the United States, residing at the city of Reading, county of Berks, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stamp and Envelope Moisteners, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to that class of articles which are designed to receive water or other liquid and to distribute the same through the medium of an absorbent substance placed in communication with the interior of the article and adapted to be brought into contact with the substance to which the liquid is to be applied.

My invention designed to serve as a moistener for stamps, envelope flaps, and other gulnnied surfaces, and the object of my invention is to produce a simply-constructed device the interior of which shall be free from any inclosed working parts, and from which the liquid shall flow evenly and in easily-graduated quantities.

To the above purposes my invention consists in certain peculiar and novel features of construction and arrangement, as hereinafter de scribed and claimed.

The drawings herewith, forming a part of this specification, show very fully the nature of my improvement, like letters of reference indicating similar parts.

Figure 1 represents in longitudinal sectional elevation myimproved moistener. Fig. 2 represents an end view of the same, with the cap removed. Fig. 3 is a sectional longitudinal elevation of a modification of the invention.

As heretofore constructed, slate washers or cleaners and other similar devices of this class have been seriously defective in having as a necessary part of their structures certain internal working parts,which not only lessen the capacity of the reservoir, and necessitate an objectionable bulkincss, but which are quickly clogged or otherwise injured by the contained liquid. By virtue of my invention all such internal parts are dispensed with and a more even and thoroughly regulated ilow of the liquid is attained than has heretofore been possible.

In the drawings, A represents a hollow vessel, of any convenient form,adapted to the purpose whereto it is to be applied, and made of metal, rubber, or other suitable material, having openings at both ends of the same. In one end, B, is inserted a small piece of sponge or other absorbent, I3,which extends from the illterior of the vessel A, and protrudes beyond the nozzle opening E. I prefer to have this nozzle end ol'a conical form converging toward the opening, whereby, when the absorbent is drawn partially through the same, its expansion upon the outside will lock the absorbent 13 in place. The opposite end of the vessel or any convenient point upon the same is provided with a filling-tube, F, and removable cap 0, preferably screwthreaded and adapted to a male thread upon the tube F. Said cap is removed when necessary to fill the vessel with water or other liquid, and it is replaced after the vessel has been filled. I have found that when the cap 0 is tightly screwed down upon its seat, and the admission of air above the surface of the liquid contained in the vessel is thereby cutoff, the absorbent B will not take up the water or other liquid with sufficient rapidity for practical use, and that the same will become clogged and hardened. I obviate this difficulty and regulate the flow of. the liquid by a simple loosening or raising of the screwed cap 0 by a partial unscrewing of the same. This permits suflicient air to enter to insure the operation of the device.

I have shown in the drawings other modes of construction for air admission. For instance, in Figs. 1 and 2, a portion of the screwthread is flattened at D, which, when the cap is raised clear of the end opening, permits a free entrance to the air, or, as shown in Fig. 3, a small hole, D, is drilled through the tube F, which is covered by the cap 0, when resting upon its seat upon the tube F, and which on release therefrom gradually uncovers the hole 1), and thereby graduates the quantity of air entering within the vessel. My invention is prepared for use by removing the cap 0 and filling the vessel A with water or other liquid through the tube F. The cap is then returned to place, suflicient looseness of the same being maintained to admit the requisite amount of air to cause the absorbent B to be come saturated, but not to permit the same to pass the liquid without use from the vessel.

'01] drawing the protruded absorbent over the surface to be moistened, capillary attraction will withdraw from the vessel a portion of its contained liquid, and the stamps, envelopes,

discharge=opening of a liquid-containing vessel is not new, (see Patent No. 255,851, April 4, 1882, WV. R. Gross and John S. George, (slatewasher,) and Patent No. 257,293, May 2, 1882, Cory and Moore, (slate-cleaner,) and that perforations and grooves to permit the passage of air to the interior of the vessel is not new, see Patent to Holland, No. 298,582, May 13,1884, fountain-pen,) and therefore I do not broadly claim the same; but I believe myself to be the first to use as a stamp and envelope moistener a portable receptacle provided with such absorbent at its open end, having its interior unobstructed by disks or diaphragms between the absorbent and the liquid, as in the patent above cited, and provided with a looselyfitted cap to the filling-tube,whereby the air supply to the vessel is controlled.

My invention is not restricted to the particu- .lar methods of introducing air within the vessel, as shown in the drawings and described in the specification, and it may be adapted to and be used for containing and distributing liquids other than water for other purposes than moistening.

Having shown my invention, described its use and advantages, I desire to claim as follows:

An improved nioistener, consisting of a receiving-chamber having its interior free for the entrance of liquid, and provided with a tapered dischargeopening having an absorbent body in its outer end, and an adjustable filling-aperture and air-vent, as described.

CHAS. MARSH.

Witnesses:

HORACE A. LUNDT, 7M. A. H. SoHMEHL. 

